We’re excited to offer a huge congratulations to our partner Yolélé on obtaining funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) through Prosper Africa. They’ve been awarded a $1.98 million grant.
The story of Yolélé is the story of Fonio. Fonio is an ancient grain that is gluten-free and drought-tolerant and has been around feeding the people of West Africa for 5,000 years. Now it’s a popular snack choice in America and quickly spreading globally thanks to Yolélé.
Yolélé is teaming up with another West African brand, Mali Shi SA, to develop Fonio into a viable cash crop to meet growing demand globally. The two companies are collaborating to create a new venture called WAAG (West African Ancient Grain). Their hope is to build over 13k jobs in agriculture for the Mali region in West Africa as they substantially increase the production of Fonio. They will be sourcing the Fonio from thousands of smallholder farms. WAAG will also provide training in better agronomic practices to help improve the production of these small farms.
Read Yolélé’s full press release here.